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Books & Authors

Healing from Trauma

Adult children of emotionally immature parents: how to heal from distant, rejecting, or self-involved parents by Lindsay C. Gibson, PsyD

In this breakthrough book, clinical psychologist Lindsay Gibson exposes the destructive nature of parents who are emotionally immature or unavailable. You will see how these parents create a sense of neglect, and discover ways to heal from the pain and confusion caused by your childhood. By freeing yourself from your parents' emotional immaturity, you can recover your true nature, control how you react to them, and avoid disappointment. Finally, you'll learn how to create positive, new relationships so you can build a better life.

 

Deceived: facing the trauma of sexual betrayal by Claudia Black

Multiple affairs, compulsive pornography, prostitutes, and voyeurism--no matter their "drug" of choice, men who act out sexually leave their partners reeling in fear, rage, shame, and isolation. But there is hope. Bestselling author Claudia Black's revised edition of her classic work Deceived offers women in relationships plagued by sexual betrayal the validation and guidance to create a new path of clarity, direction, and confidence. Dr. Black uses stories of women who have been through a wide variety of experiences to help readers develop the understanding and skills to confront the trauma of the betrayal. She offers them the opportunity to shift from their overwhelming emotions to action derived from self-esteem and integrity.

Widen the window: training your brain and body to thrive during stress and recover from trauma by Elizabeth A. Stanley, PH.D.

Stress is our internal response to an experience that our brain perceives as threatening or challenging. Trauma is our response to an experience in which we feel powerless or lacking agency. Until now, researchers have treated these conditions as different, but they actually lie along a continuum. Dr. Elizabeth Stanley explains the significance of this continuum, how it affects our resilience in the face of challenge, and why an event that's stressful for one person can be traumatizing for another.

 

The unspeakable mind: stories of trauma and healing from the frontlines of PTSD science by Shaili Jain

Combining vividly recounted patient stories, interviews with some of the world's top trauma scientists, and her professional expertise from working on the frontlines of PTSD, The Unspeakable Mind offers a textured portrait of this invisible illness that is unrivaled in scope and lays bare PTSD's roots, inner workings, and paths to healing.  This book is essential reading for understanding how humans can recover from unspeakable trauma. The Unspeakable Mind stands as the definitive guide to PTSD and offers lasting hope to sufferers, their loved ones, and health care providers everywhere.

 

The body keeps the score: brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma by Bessel A. van der Kolk, M.D

Renowned trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain's wiring--specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, and other therapies. Based on Dr. van der Kolk's own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score offers proven alternatives to drugs and talk therapy--and a way to reclaim lives.

What happened to you?: conversations on trauma, resilience, and healing by Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph. D., Oprah Winfrey

Have you ever wondered "Why did I do that?" or "Why can't I just control my behavior?" Others may judge our reactions and think, "What's wrong with that person?" When questioning our emotions, it's easy to place the blame on ourselves; holding ourselves and those around us to an impossible standard. It's time we started asking a different question. Through deeply personal conversations, Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking "What's wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?"

 

The trauma cleaner: one woman's extraordinary life in the business of death, decay, and disaster by Sarah Krasnostein

As a therapist, Gretchen Schmelzer has watched far too many people quit during treatment for trauma recovery. They find it too difficult or frightening or they decide that it's just too late for them. So she wrote Journey Through Trauma specifically for survivors - to help them understand the terrain of the healing process and stay on the path. Ultimately, the healing journey is one of trust as survivors come to trust their capacity to rely on help from others and to trust themselves and the work they have done.

 

Who you were before trauma: the healing power of imagination for trauma survivors by Luise Reddemann; with Susanne Lücke and Cornelia Appel-Ramb; translated by Rebecca Garron and Joseph Smith

In "Who You Were Before Trauma: Use Your Imagination and Reclaim Buried Strengths to Heal from Within," Reddemann-a leading psychotherapist in Germany with over three decades of trauma therapy experience-illustrates the Psychodynamic Imaginative Trauma Therapy (PITT) method, a three-phase treatment model that incorporates imagination work at each stage of treatment: before, during, and after confrontation.


Black magic: what Black leaders learned from trauma and triumph by Chad Sanders

When Chad Sanders landed his first job in lily-white Silicon Valley, he quickly concluded that to be successful at work meant playing a certain social game. Each meeting was drenched in white slang and the privileged talk of international travel or folk concerts in San Francisco, which led Chad to believe he needed to emulate whiteness to be successful. So Chad changed. He changed his wardrobe, his behavior, his speech--everything that connected him with his Black identity. And while he finally felt included, he felt awful. So he decided to give up the charade. He reverted back to the methods he learned at the dinner table, or at the Black Baptist church where he'd been raised, or at the concrete basketball courts, barbershops, and summertime cookouts. And it paid off. Chad began to land more exciting projects. He earned the respect of his colleagues. Accounting for this turnaround, Chad believes, was something he calls Black Magic, namely resilience, creativity, and confidence forged in his experience navigating America as a Black man. Black Magic has emboldened his every step since, leading him to wonder: Was he alone in this discovery? Were there others who felt the same? In essays, Chad dives into his formative experiences to see if they might offer the possibility of discovering or honing this skill. He tests his theory by interviewing Black leaders across industries to get their take on Black Magic. Black Magic explores Black experiences in predominantly white environments and demonstrates the risks of self-betrayal and the value of being yourself.


Trauma: my life as an emergency surgeon by Dr. James Cole

TRAUMA is Dr. Cole's harrowing account of his life spent in the ER and on the battlegrounds, fighting to save lives. In addition to his gripping stories of treating victims of gunshot wounds, stabbings, attempted suicides, flesh-eating bacteria, car crashes, industrial accidents, murder, and war, the book also covers the years during Cole's residency training when he was faced with 120-hour work weeks, excessive sleep deprivation, and the pressures of having to manage people dying of traumatic injury, often with little support. Unlike the authors of other medical memoirs, Cole trained to be a surgeon in the military and served as a physician member of a Marine Corps reconnaissance unit, United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), and on a Navy Reserve SEAL team. From treating war casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq to his experiences as a civilian trauma surgeon treating alcoholics, drug addicts, criminals, and the mentally deranged, TRAUMA is an intense look at one man's commitment to his country and to those most desperately in need of aid

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